Five years in jail for man who tried to buy handgun on dark web
A SOFTWARE engineer who bought a gun and silencer online was jailed for five years yesterday after law enforcement officers in Scotland and the US co-operated to trap him.
David Mitchell purchased the firearm and 150 rounds of ammunition after searching on the dark web.
But he took delivery of a package mocked up to look like the original after US Homeland Security intervened.
The 48-year-old spent more than £2,000 of cryptocurrency on a Glock 9mm gun with magazine, silencer and bullets. A court heard he was driven by an ‘obsessive preoccupation’ to explore whether or not the transaction was possible.
Mitchell admitted three firearms offences when he appeared at the High Court in Edinburgh last month.
The court heard that Mitchell’s original parcel, which was addressed to Dunfermline, Fife, was intercepted by a special agent at Newark Airport in the US on September 17 last year.
It was found to contain an amplifier but hidden inside the item was a fully operational Glock handgun, a sound suppressor and bullets.
Advocate depute Liam Ewing earlier told the court that following the find, a joint operation was set up between Police Scotland and the National Crime Agency (NCA) to create a mocked-up package.
Mitchell was put under surveillance and a box containing the mock-up was delivered to his work in Dunfermline.
Firearms officers later found the package at Mitchell’s home in Edinburgh.
Detective Chief Superintendent Gerry McLean, from Police Scotland’s Specialist Crime Division, said: ‘His sentence should serve as a reminder that organised crime offences will not be tolerated.’
Rob Burgess of the National Crime Agency said: ‘Results like this show what can be achieved by close working between the NCA and Police Scotland.’